Frankfort Hill District Number 10 School
Why it's listed
Built in 1846 in the rural hamlet of Frankfort Hill, this one-room timber frame schoolhouse served as a public school for 110 years. The school district was organized in 1841, and trustees first proposed a brick building before a frame structure of wood and local stone was built instead. The gable-front building has board and batten siding, a pedimented entrance, wide poplar floorboards, half-height wainscoting and horsehair plaster, with 2/2 windows and a cloakroom and vestibule added later in the nineteenth century. It reflects the era when New York's free school laws and reform movements pushed rural districts to replace crude schools with better buildings. Later it was used for fire department storage and by a Boy Scout troop. Since 2009 a nonprofit has restored it, removing a drop ceiling and faux brick siding and moving the building twenty-eight feet north onto a new foundation to escape flooding.
Significance in brief: It is presented as a rare, highly intact surviving nineteenth-century frame schoolhouse in the town, retaining board and batten siding, a pedimented entrance, wainscoting, poplar floors, horsehair plaster and 2/2 windows. It illustrates how a rural district responded to mid-nineteenth-century school reform and increased public funding for education. It served as a public school for 110 years.
Machine-generated summary. This summary was generated by a language model from the official nomination document and has not been reviewed line by line by an editor. It may contain errors. Check the source document before relying on any detail. Source: nomination document (PDF) · National Archives catalog entry. NRHP reference 11000401, listed June 23, 2011. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-sonnet-5-5, prompt v1.0-2026-10-29, confidence high).
Key facts
| Address | 2235 Albany Rd., Frankfort Hill |
|---|---|
| County | Herkimer County |
| Listed | June 23, 2011 |
| Reference number | 11000401 |
| Resource type | Building |
| Period of significance | 1846-1956 |
| Architectural style | Mid-19th Century: No Style (vernacular) |
| Criteria |
|
| Areas of significance | Architecture, Education |
| Level of significance | Local |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | Listed as vacant/not in use; a not-for-profit group has been restoring the building since 2009 and hopes to return it to educational use through local school programs. |
| Acreage | 0.9 |
| Coordinates | 43.03608, -75.18440 (NPS GIS) |
What listing means for this property
For a publicly owned building or structure, listing mainly matters when federal funds, permits or licences are involved: projects then go through Section 106 review so effects on the property are considered. Listing also strengthens applications for preservation grants and, for leased income-producing uses, can enable the federal rehabilitation tax credit.
Noted as vacant in the nomination. Nomination documents can be decades old; current status may differ. If you are considering buying an empty listed property, read the due-diligence checklist.
General information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change; confirm with your State Historic Preservation Office or a qualified adviser.
Sources and further reading
- National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places database (snapshot May 2026), reference 11000401.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikipedia article (used for cross-checking only; text not reproduced here)
- Wikidata Q5490818
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.